Rethink smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol. Those two things affect the body's ability to regulate and conserve heat.

Eat more. It helps generate energy and heat.

Pay attention to your body: if you find that you are drowsy, lose coordination, shiver or breathe slowly, get out of the cold.

YOUR PET:

Never leave your dog or cat alone in a car, especially during extremely cold weather. The temperature in the car can drop very quickly.

Make sure your animal has a warm place to sleep, off the floor and away from drafts.

YOUR PIPES:

Leave your taps running at a trickle. Flowing water won't freeze as quickly as still water.

Pipes located against or near exterior walls and in unheated crawlspaces are prime candidates for freeze damage. Insulating these pipes using Fiberglas insulation, electrical heating tape or a preformed pipe sleeve insulation that is taped into place can help avoid problems. Remember, hot water pipes are just as susceptible to freezing as cold water pipes, so insulate both.

If pipes do freeze, carefully applied heat can free the ice blockage and keep the pipe from bursting.

Turning on a hair dryer to maximum and blowing hot air slowly up and down the length of a frozen pipe for 20 minutes can sometimes clear a blocked pipe, though you have to locate the frozen section of the pipe first. A heat lamp can be used in the same way over several hours, but to avoid damage to other objects near the lamp, constant supervision is needed.

» Social News

Folks who must work outdoors acknowledged Tuesday that it was super cold, but they managed to cope with the freezing temperatures in different ways.

Phillips, who was wearing several layers of clothes, gloves and a beanie — but no thermals (they make him sweat) — said he copes with the cold weather by layering his clothes and by walking a lot, though he wished he had brought his scarf to work, he said.

Temperatures on Tuesday plummeted. It was around 9 degrees in Stroudsburg around noon. The cold front that hit on Tuesday was one of the first real cold fronts to strike this winter.

Still, some people said they were relatively unfazed.

"After 23 years in this job, you pretty much get used to anything," said a United States Postal Service letter carrier who only gave his first name, Miguel. Miguel, who was walking on Main Street in Stroudsburg, was wearing ear muffs and gloves and said that the USPS-issued jacket he wore was warm.

All around Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg on Tuesday, it was easy to tell that it was wicked cold. Joggers on the Levee Loop Trail wore hooded sweatshirts, hats and thick gloves. Women walking the Monroe County Courthouse huddled in fur coats. People walking on Main Street, who were facing the wind, had their hands in their pockets and wore battered expressions.

But the cold temperatures didn't deter Jessica Migliaccio of Effort, from doing what she needed to do.

"The cold weather can't stop me," Migliaccio said. "I just put more layers on and drink lots of hot cocoa. I have to take care of my family. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure our daughter has (what she needs)."

But not everyone, however, was as resolute when faced with teeth-chattering temperature.

"I have no desire to be out in these temps," Christopher Graham of Milford wrote on Facebook. "Being a 'fair-weather' outdoorsman, there's no place for kayaking or biking in these temps. I much prefer the 'I'm a bear' approach and hibernate."

The Salvation Army in East Stroudsburg says that it still has beds available at its shelter for people who need them. If the shelter fills up, the organization tries to make arrangements and have those in need placed in other facilities. The Salvation Army also offers free coats and other clothes to people.

According to the National Weather Service, temperatures are supposed to remain below freezing for the rest of the week, with wind chills below zero in the morning and evening today and Thursday morning.

All Monroe County schools responded with two-hour delays today.

The high today will reach 19 degrees. Snow is expected Friday, with the amount depending on the path the storm takes as it nears the Poconos.